Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior will miss the upcoming Clasico in La Liga against Barcelona after being issued a four-match suspension on Wednesday following his red card for hair-pulling against Villarreal last week.
The Spanish football federation’s disciplinary committee confirmed the Brazilian will be banned for several matches including the visit to face league leaders Barca on October 25 for both the red card and his subsequent protests.
The committee said Vinicius had been suspended for two games for “behaving violently… (while) not being in a position to challenge for the ball” and a further two matches for “protests” to the officials.
As well as the Clasico, Vinicius will be unavailable to face Sevilla (October 18), Racing Santander (November 1) and Valencia (November 7) in La Liga.
Despite Vinicius’s red card against Villarreal, Jose Mourinho’s fourth-place Madrid earned a 1-0 win to stay six points behind Barcelona.
The 26-year-old winger reacted angrily to the decision, made after a VAR review, which also chalked off a goal he had scored in the aftermath of his pull on Nathan Saliba’s hair.
Vinicius had to be held back by his team-mates as he remonstrated with referee Isidro Diaz de Mera.
Mourinho, also upset by the officiating, refused to participate in his post-match press conference.
Vinicius apologised to his teammates and Madrid supporters after the match. “I am sorry to the team and the fans,” he wrote on social media.
The attacker has endured a difficult start to the campaign, scoring just once in nine appearances, and was dropped to the bench against Villarreal, with his red card occurring around 20 minutes after he was introduced as a substitute.
Madrid’s visit to Camp Nou will be Mourinho’s first Clasico since returning as coach of Los Blancos this summer.
Thus far Hansi Flick’s Barcelona, back-to-back Spanish champions, boast a perfect record of 10 wins from 10 matches this season across all competitions.